The Opelousas courier., 1887-04-02
Rice NEill.

We are glad to inform our readers
that Opelousas has the prospect of hav
ing first class rice cleaning mill erect
ed here in time to clean the rice that
will be grown here during the ensuing
season.
Mr.. Sam'l j. Holly, gentleman of
fine intelligence, who has been in the
milling business for thirty five years,
and who has mass of statistics upon
the grain productions of the world for
the past half century, is now here
representing New York capitalists for
the purpose of starting this new indus
trial enterprise. A lot of two acres of
land 420 feet west of the railroad depot
has been purchased, and between this
and the 1st of May the timbers and
lumber will be on hand to commence
the erection of a mill, which will be
furnished with machinery that will
turn out 200 barrels of clean rice per
day. The mill will be provided with
every modern improvement and con-
venience to turn out first class rice and
to save expenses to the rice planters.
For instance: When the planter hauls
the rice to tho mill in sacks, he drives
his wagon to the side of the building
where large hue without connects
with an immense hopper resting on a
pair of Fairbanks scales ON the inside.
The planter opens his sacks of rice,
empties them into the fue which con-
veys the grain into the hopper, where
it is weighed A trap door in the hop
per is then opened which drops the rice
into q large reservoir and from there is
conveyed by an elevator into bins in
the upper story. The planter takes his
sacks back home and can use them for
hauling his entire crop, thus saving the
expense of buying sacks for every load
he hauls to market. Besides this he
saves eleven ceuts freight paid on the
refuse part of every sack Of rough rice
shipped by rail to New Orleans. After
the rice is cleaned here it can be
shipped directly to Texas, st. Louis,
Detroit, Milwaukee, Chicago and other
cities, and thus afford the planters the
full benefit of their profits on the labor
Of their crops.
While this mill will be built by
northern capital, yet Mr., Holly states
that any planters who may desire tt
take stock in the enterprise will be
permitted to do SO. The motto of the
Company will be: "Live and lei
live" and they desire that it shall be
fully identified with the interests of thi'
county. Mr.. Holly speaks in glowing
terms Of the soil and climate of South
west Louisiana, and says that the pos
sibilities of its future development and
progress are unlimited. He said tha
Louisiana possessed the finest rics
lands in the world, and that this sec
ton was peculiarly favored for its sue
eessful production in not being subJee
to overflow or the blightiug effects o
salt water which damaged the crops OF
the coast. He pointed out i'll ciea
manrer the immense benefits to accru
| to planters by planting more rice
That while wheat rated at II cents pc
| pound in the market, rice was "ortl
| four or FIVE cents per pound. That al
| though rice was the cheapest and on
of the most nutritious foods in th'
world, that the crop for the Unitet
States in 1886 was not more than hal
| of what it was in 1850, although on
population had increased fourfold dur
Ing the time. To supply this defci
| we had to import rice from British lndi
and Japan. Why not raise all of ou
rice in the United States? More thai
this, rice requires only about one thir'
| of the labor that is required for cotto
aud corn, and brings greater profit t
the acre than any cereal we can planl
| We will have more to say on this sub
iect hereafter; but in concluding thI
article we would say to our planters
Plant all of your lower lands in rice.